Category: 2016

Somehow in our screwed up world, where almost everything political has been turned on its head, there has been a concerted effort by Conservatives, Neo-Conservatives, Neo-Colonists and Israel since that fateful 9/11 demarcation line – and even before that for some – to deliberately confuse the Muslim Religion with Muslim Extremism, Radicalism and/or Terrorism. The effort has been so successful that when Donald Trump took this view to the Nth degree wanting to ban all Muslims from coming to the United States and to spy on all Muslim-Americans in their mosques, schools, places of assembly, cafes and what have you, those same politicians and Extreme Right Wingers who absolutely support his views – overtly or covertly – began falling all over themselves trying to explain and ameliorate the backlash of sheer horror that occurred in the United States and World Wide.

However, once again, Muslims were called upon to deny Extremism, Radicalism, and Terrorism; to explain their religion; to apologize for each and every criminal act committed by any Muslim anywhere; and to practically express their true remorse at having been born into such a violent religion!!!

And, once again, we Arabs/Middle Easterners fell into this totally unjust and inane trap and began denying criminal acts that we have nothing to do with; explaining ourselves and Islam; apologizing to the West and to Christians; and trotting out Koranic verses proclaiming the Peaceful aspects of the religion to counter the Violent verses thrown at us!!!

Not only that, but we began digging into historical annals and going on the Mainstream and Social Media touting our rightful and numerous historical contributions to world civilization in order to refute the criminality of the few amongst us, and, more importantly, to validate our existence as viable members of the human race!!!

So, one morning, after watching the nauseating mainstream news and who said what about Muslims, I decided: No More!!

I don’t want to see one more Arab or Middle Easterner being asked – or, worse: Told – about their violent religion. No more explanations, denials or apologies. Enough already! It is insane to continue doing this as if we are culprits. It is getting us nowhere with Radical Christians and Extremist Jews who will never change their warped minds; it is getting us nowhere with corrupt politicians who will continue to use this wedge issue for their benefit; it is getting us nowhere with a mindless mainstream media that does not believe in spreading the truth, but only promotes gossip, innuendo and sensationalism!

So why the hell bother?

Smart, intelligent human beings of any religion, or any nationality know that we do not need to do that. They have educated themselves enough about Muslims, Islam, Arabs and the Middle East to be able to discern the truth from the lies. Moreover, they know, that if we are to read any religious book we will find verses in them that call for violence. In All Of Them!!! They also know that Christianity and Judaism have contributed their hefty share of violence, extremism and radicalism throughout history and, to this very day, there are Extremist Christians and Jews. They only have to look at Israel to see what Extremist Jews are doing to the Palestinian people, as well as to the surrounding nations; or listen to some of the Trump surrogates and the violence they spew, let alone the innocent Muslims or Muslim look-alikes that they have already violated or killed. Yes, they know. Many do!

What behooves me is that those pushing the anti-Muslim/Islam/Immigrant/Arab agenda do not want to differentiate between criminal acts committed by some Muslims and the Anger amongst most of us Middle Easterners and Arabs (let alone Africans, Asians, Latinos!) at the egregious behavior and foreign policies of the West. And, yes, we are very angry about those policies!

We are very angry when we view the incredible and horrific devastation that has been unjustly wreaked on our world in the name of “democracy and freedom!”

We are very angry when we view with dismay what extreme suffering our people have had to endure – and are still enduring! – in order to advance a Western, racist, bigoted, skewed and unjust agenda that calls us “collateral damage!”

We are very angry when we look into Western colonist history from the Crusades, to the establishment of Israel, to the modern-day Neo-Colonialism that had its inception during the fifties, that exploded with the Iraq War, and, that has not ended yet, and on and on.

It is time for each and every one of us Middle Easterners and Arabs, as well as all those people and nations suffering that similar fate, to explain that there is a HUGE difference between our Anger and the criminal acts of some!

It is time for us to stop explaining, denying, apologizing for the acts of the criminal few and, rather, to begin expressing why we are angry whether we are Muslims, or Christians, and, I can comfortably add, many Jews as well!

And I will begin with myself, for I am as guilty as all my compatriots of trying to explain, deny, apologize and on and on for the criminals amongst us.

No more will I do that!

And I hope you will all join me! I really urge you to do so and not to keep on falling into this absurd trap that gets us nowhere, but rather entangles us even more!

From today on, anyone who attempts to trip me by asking me to deny, apologize, explain any sort of criminal acts committed by any Muslims will get no answer from me.

Rather, I will explain to them why I am an angry Arab-Christian and demand that THEY explain, deny, apologize for the racist, bigoted, unjust, wicked, evil policies of the Israeli Government strategies and the present day Western governments and their foreign policies.

And it is time for all the Western nations to refrain from their short-sightedness and look into their sordid ancient and modern history in order to find out the root causes for our Anger and begin to redress their wicked role in the devastation of our lands, the murder and uprooting of our people, the damage that they have wielded and that is causing our anger.

Enough! Really and truly: ENOUGH!

I have a standing joke with my trainer that anyone seeing me walking jauntily into the gym with my loping stride would think: Wow! This woman is so nimble and healthy! She must do fitness wonders! The reality, of course, is that I am a Perfect Wimp! We both laugh at this constantly, especially when she asks me to do what would be considered by the really fit as an easy exercise, but which I find to be difficult, and I tell her at the top of my voice: Ouch! You’re killing me!

I train with Joanne once a week. The other days I try to repeat the exercises by myself – at least, once in a while! Mainly, however, I walk for about two miles every day on the track. (During the past several months I have not done so as I had injured my back somehow and at my old age it took its sweet time to get better!) Anyway, walking with my iPod music is absolutely great for my body, as well as for my well-being. It is during these thirty minutes, or so, that I chill out and refuel my brains. It is my form of meditation, if you wish. Exhilarating!

There are fitness facilities all over these United States. Actually, there are one or more in almost every area. It’s incredible! The fitness craze had its beginnings during the presidency of General Eisenhower when he established the Council On Youth Fitness in 1956. That did not really take off until John F Kennedy became president. Kennedy had many health issues himself and his back had always been a problem. This is mainly why he was so keen on working out. In brief, he issued a challenge in 1962 to the Marines inviting them to run 50 miles in 24 hours. He accompanied this with a massive awareness campaign that caught the nation’s attention and that was a great success! Ergo, sports and health centers began sprouting up here and there and soon enough they mushroomed throughout the land as the fitness craze took off becoming the huge multi-billions business that it is today.

I was still living in Beirut at the time, but we, too, like the American people, became aware of that. Looking back on those years I remember how much we loved Ike (Eisenhower) and how we were as fascinated as the rest of the world with the young, classy and beautiful Kennedys. In fact, when JFK was killed we were all totally devastated! I lived on a street that shortly after his assassination was renamed John F Kennedy Street in his memory. It still has that name today.

I started going to the gym at the prodding of my daughters during the last year of my husband’s life when I was about to truly fall apart. His illness had taken its toll on both he and I, and after seven years of devoting myself entirely to his well-being, house-bound and isolated from the world, I was on the verge of a complete nervous breakdown, I had lost a lot of weight and my muscles were becoming atrophied. My daughters, My Superwomen, sprung to action and ordered me to the gym!

During my first year there, I had a trainer whom I called “therapist,” not fitness trainer. She knew my situation, massaged my neck, shoulders and tension away and did light exercises. I later found out that she just wanted me to get to a point where I was confident that I could do things, as well as to strengthen my muscles minimally. It took quite a while, but we achieved that. And here I am, four years later, doing exercises that I never thought I would be able to do. Having a capable trainer is a plus! Joanne knows when to push me and when to let go. It is quite amazing to me how our bodies respond when we ask them to, when we push them a bit, when we set goals in our heads that we can reach and how fulfilling it is to attain them! It not only helps us physically, but it also gives us a sense of confidence and power that translate into all sorts of positive aspects throughout our lives.

For us, old women, it is vital that we exercise daily, because most of us develop arthritis, osteoporosis and what-not after menopause. Exercise does not cure these sometimes debilitating conditions, but it certainly arrests their rapid advancement and makes it more bearable to cope with. It also helps with a whole lot of other conditions.

There, in the women’s locker room, one is going to her yoga class, the other to Pilates. One has just finished aerobics swimming class, the other has just gotten off the treadmill. They stand there dripping with sweat, or after their showers, many in their nakedness, most semi-dressed, putting on their make-up, blow-drying their hair, getting ready to face their day. Many are close to my age, some are young. There are no inhibitions here. Shyness has taken a hike! The wrinkles, the sagging breasts, the flabby thighs, the cellulite, the drooping derrieres are of no concern to anyone. They stand confidently and unabashedly next to the young, the firm, the thong-clad. I know that this confidence comes from having lived this long, from knowing that we were once these young and taut women, but that perhaps childbirth, perhaps surgeries, and maybe simply the maladies and ravages of age had changed our bodies as we deal with this fact as gracefully and as elegantly as we can. And I also know that the younger females eye us older women thinking – hopefully, at least – that they should enjoy their youthful bodies and selves because, sooner or later, they will be us. It is a joyful and humbling atmosphere that we all enjoy as we gab away all in the brief time it takes to put on a face, to mousse the hair, to get into our street clothes! The camaraderie is delightful!

So for all of you old and older women out there who do not exercise, get off your behinds and get into the fitness mood! And, to all of you who are in fitness mode already: keep it up!

Let’s Go! Let’s Gym! Yallah!